Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1887-01-08
A MAN OF THE AGE.

Sagaclty, industry, untlrlnS er ergys
are the qualities which move and
impress this unsentimental. but won
derful age. The man who has these at
tributes ofpower and force accomplish
es his purposes. Such men build rail-
roads and ships, develop mines. rear
workshops, create trade, introduce
new and improved methods of manu-
featuring and agriculture, and build
up the wealth of the country and the
splendor of the city. They are not
men of shining genius, but of power !;
and, if they do not dazzle their gener-
alton, their generation feels their
force and their go" and is moulded
by them.
We had the pleasure day or two
ago of meeting one ofthis class ofmen
we'll known in New Orleans, and once
largely identified with its interest, as
we believe he still is to very consid-
cradle extent. We refer to Mr.. Henry
Shepherd. For several years past
this gentleman has been only an oc-
casional visitor to our city, his resi-
dence being in Virginia where he
purchased a splendid estate which he
has steadily improved until it is now
one of the most valuable and beauti-
full country seats in the whole South.
A graphically written description of
this model farm, known as Wild
Goose Farm in West Virginia, we find
in the Martinsburg HERALD and re-
produce elsewhere in the State.
Our Southern planters should study
this description of Southern farm
and profit by it. Mr.. Shepherd is a
man or wealth, and has been able to
carry on his improvements at a much
greater advantage than can men of
more limited means. But the lesson
is none the less valuable in showing
the Southern farmer the true road to
wealth, or at least to independence.
Every man cannot create Wild
Goose Farm, but /" Wild Goose Farmn
is a model for them to aim at. and
aiming at such, they would soon have
something more around them than
bald clay or sand hills, tumble-down
barns, dilapidated fence. backed
hogs and spawned horses and mules.
At the start, after the war, Mr.. s..
was no better off than thousands of
our Southern planters who go on
growing poorer every year. The war
had completely swept away his for
tune as it did theirs, and left him ow-
ing thousands of dollars and not cent
to pay with. But he was one of the
"men of force" He took in the stu
alton at a glance, rearranged the order
of his life's campaign and marched
forward tOSucceSS, as such men always
do. But it is not his special merit that
he has made fortune; many rogue
as well as many an honest man has
done that; but it is to his credit and
honor, among all men that he paid off
large debts, amounting to many thou
sands of dollars, from which he had
been absolutely released by bank
rupt court, settling every just claim
against him to the full satisfaction of
every creditor. Many bankrupt men
have re-established their fortunes, but
how many of them have every done
this.
1t is pleasant in publishing this no.
tice of Mr.. Shepherd to recall another
fact illustrative of his pluck and pub
lie spirit; that is, that in the darkest
hour of the Nichols government,
when its fate was doubtful and it was
without dollar in Its treasury, Mr..
Shepherd came forward, the first of
the large property holders, and paid
his taxes, amounting to over twenty
thousand dollars. The same indomit-
able pluck, energy and sagacity which
marked this gentleman's career in this
city, have made him conspicuous in
West Virginia and prompted some of
the leading papers there to suggest
and insist upon his being returned to
Congress from that State as the man
who can best serve its great materi-
al interest in that body.-New Orleans
Daily State, of Dec. 9th.